Reader’s Annotation: Louisa Clark has a boring life, but yearns for something more. She then finds a job as a care taker of Will Traynor, who changes her life she could have never imagined.

Plot Summary:

Will Traynor was on top of the world, and was constantly active. In a freak accident, Will is left a quadriplegic. He loses everything. His successful career, his girlfriend, and his ability to adventure. His mother hires Louisa Clark as a care taker. Louisa is bubbly and carefree, but Will seems to hate her. She begins to “defrost” Will and he begins to show signs that he loves her. Louisa finds out thar Will plans to go to a facility to commit suicide, and that his parents hired her to try and get him to change his mind. She quits. After a few weeks away, Louisa decides to change his mind and gets the approval of his parents. After finding out the difficulty in planning activities while disabled, Louisa takes will on some trip and finally confesses her feelings for him in their final trip. He tells Louisa that he still plans to commit suicide, and asks her to come with him. Louisa refuses and goes home separately from him. She eventually meets back with him, and stands by his side as he dies. She travels to Paris to honor Will.

Critical Evaluation:

I really enjoyed this book. I think the topic is something that hasn’t really been done before, and I think that Jojo Moyes does a great job at creating likable characters and a realistic setting. The writing is clear, and will be easy for teens to read and understand. Overall, this is a book that was written for adults but it can also be enjoyed by teens as well.

Author Bio/Information:

“Jojo Moyes is a British novelist.

Moyes studied at Royal Holloway, University of London. She won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to study journalism at City University and subsequently worked for The Independent for 10 years. In 2001 she became a full time novelist.

Moyes’ novel Foreign Fruit won the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) Romantic Novel of the Year in 2004.

She is married to journalist Charles Arthur and has three children” (“Jojo Moyes,” n.d.).

Ties to Curriculum Units: N/A

Booktalking Ideas:

Should assisted suicide be legal?

Challenging Issues:

Some may challenge the idea of assisted suicide, but I will explain to parents that the topic may be sensitive but it also is positive in that the book talks about enjoying life and never taking it for advantage. I don’t foresee any other big issues except for language, but that is very minimal.

Reader’s Annotation: An interviewer is hired to write about the zombie apocalypse, he interviews various people involved in the zombie wars.

Plot Summary:

An man hired to write about the zombie outbreak that had occurred, and interviews various people from around the world about their roles during the outbreak. It begins in China, and spread around the world. Many countries did not believe the zombie apocalypse was starting so they didn’t do anything to protect themselves or to try and stop it. By the time they realized the importance of protecting themselves, the zombies had taken over. Those that are being interviewed explain how the apocalypse was eventually stopped.

Critical Evaluation:

I really enjoyed this audio book! The story itself is really good but I do think the audio book really captures the story. The interviews are told by various different people, and the audio book has an ensemble cast. This allows the reader to hear the stories told in various perspectives and different voices. I think teens will like this book although it is considered adult because it is interesting and features zombies!

Author Bio/ Information:

“Max Brooks is The New York Times bestselling author of The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. He has been called ‘the Studs Terkel of zombie journalism.’

Brooks is the son of director Mel Brooks and the late actress Anne Bancroft. He is a 1994 graduate of Pitzer College. His wife, Michelle, is a screenwriter, and the couple have a son, Henry” (“Max Brooks”, n.d.).

Ties to Curriculum Units: N/A

Booktalking Ideas:

How should the government have prepared when they first heard of the zombie outbreak?

Challenging Issues:

I don’t see any major challenge issues with this book. It does feature zombies and violence, but it is not over the top. It also features strong language, and I will explain that it is an adult book that can be read by teens.

Reader’s Annotation: Jane is followed through life at her Aunt Reed all the way up to working as the governess at Thornfield.

Plot Summary:

At the beginning Jane is an orphan living with her evil Aunt Reed. Who lets her cousin bully Jane, and locks her in the room that her uncle died in. Jane has a panic attack thinking that she is seeing ghosts. Her Aunt sends her to a boarding school. Which is run by another evil character Mr. Brocklehurst. She encounters a tough life at Lowood, and when she is 18 she takes a job as a governess at Thornfield. At Thornfield she works with Mrs. Fairfax, but Thornfield is owned by Mr. Rochester. Jane begins to experience some weird happenings, and begins to fall for Mr. Rochester despite his rough exterior. He asks her to marry him and on their wedding day she finds out that he is already married. Mr. Rochester explains that his wife is crazy, and he was forced into the marriage by his father. He asks Jane to come with him to Paris to live as his wife, but Jane refuses. She runs away and finds 3 of her cousins and inherits some money. She is proposed to by her cousin. She declines and goes back to Thornfield to check on it, and finds that Mr. Rochester had sent everyone away and his wife had set the house on fire and killed herself. Jane and Rochester marry, and he begins to recover from his injuries sustained in the fire.

Critical Evaluation:

This is one of my favorite novels, and I think that everyone should read this book. I think this is rightfully a classic novel, and is typically associated with adults but I think teens can gain a lot from it as well. Jane is an independent strong character, and can be seen as a role model figure for teens.

Author Bio/ Information:

“Charlotte Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, the third of six children, to Patrick Brontë (formerly “Patrick Brunty”), an Irish Anglican clergyman, and his wife, Maria Branwell. In April 1820 the family moved a few miles to Haworth, a remote town on the Yorkshire moors, where Patrick had been appointed Perpetual Curate. This is where the Brontë children would spend most of their lives. Maria Branwell Brontë died from what was thought to be cancer on 15 September 1821, leaving five daughters and a son to the care of her spinster sister Elizabeth Branwell, who moved to Yorkshire to help the family” (“Charlotte Bronte,” n.d.).

Ties to Curriculum Units: Historical

Booktalking Ideas:

Is Jane Eyre a feminist character?

Challenging Issues: I do not see any challenging issues with this novel.